1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a submucosal layer dissection instrument, a submucosal layer dissection system, and a submucosal layer dissection method for resecting an affected area of the digestive tract using an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
Endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), in which a lesion is resected using an endoscope, is typically employed for treatment of lesions of the digestive tract.
A method in which normal mucosa around an affected area is completely incised using a high-frequency knife such as a high-frequency scalpel followed by dissection and resection of the submucosal layer is introduced as an endoscopic submucosal dissection method of this type of endoscopic mucosal resection (see, for example, Reference 1 below).    [Reference 1] Ono, H. et al., “Important Techniques for EMR Using an IT Knife for Early Cancer”, Journal of the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society, Japan Gastroentero-logical Endoscopy Society Editorial Committee, Tokyo Igakusha Publishing, November 2002, Vol. 14, No. 11, pp. 1737-1740.
Furthermore, other high-frequency scalpels used in other treatment differing from that described above are proposed in Reference 2 below.    [Reference 2] U.S. Patent Application, Publication No. US2001/0049497A1
When performing incision and dissection using a conventional instrument described above, since there are numerous blood vessels running through the submucosal layer, special considerations are required such as constantly having to change the output setting of the high-frequency cauterization power supply that supplies high-frequency current to the high-frequency scalpel whenever the scalpel is near any of these blood vessels.
In addition, in order to realize a suitable incision while preventing heat damage to the area being incised due to the high-frequency energy during incision and dissection using a high-frequency scalpel, it is necessary to suitably control the force and angle by which the knife is pressed against the tissue, the speed at which the knife is moved and so forth.